Breakdowns on defense compound Orioles’ lack of hitting in loss to Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Orioles lead the league by a healthy margin in one particularly unfortunate category. The second-inning debacle on defense further separated them as the leaders in how many unearned runs they’ve allowed.

The two runs that crossed against right-hander Kyle Bradish were unearned, bringing Baltimore’s tally to 73 this season.

Bradish played a role in those early unearned runs. One of the two errors was his. And, with an offense that rested on a solo homer from Jackson Holliday in the first inning, the Orioles’ eventual 5-1 loss Saturday night seemed assured as soon as they began throwing the ball away.

“The margin for error in this league is pretty much zero,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “You can’t give another big league team, never mind the Texas Rangers, extra outs and extra 90 feet. It’ll come back and bite you, and that’s what happened today. It doesn’t matter what our offense is doing. Just in general, you can’t allow the extra outs.”

Bradish’s misfired pickoff attempt allowed Ezequiel Duran to race from first to third, and the fact the Orioles decided to bring their infield in during the second with a runner on third perhaps best illustrates how meager their offensive production has been.

Bradish got the ground ball. But shortstop Gunnar Henderson’s throw was enough on the first-base side of home plate that Duran slid in safely ahead of catcher Carlos Narváez’s tag attempt.

Later in the inning, with Evan Carter on second base, Jake Burger’s soft grounder was out of Bradish’s reach. Henderson attempted a bare-handed play and missed it. Carter, noticing the ball lying by itself on the infield grass, took off for the plate. By the time Henderson recovered the ball, his throw home was wide of the mark for an error.

“It could’ve been a little bit better of a throw,” Henderson said. When asked about how frustrating the second inning was, Henderson said, “Yeah, it sucks. It’s just, baseball sucks sometimes, man.”

And, just like that, Holliday’s first-inning homer off Jacob deGrom was wiped out. The Orioles were losing. And they kept on losing, with deGrom racking up nine strikeouts through five innings.

It only grew worse for the Orioles late. Left-hander Grant Wolfram notched a pair of strikeouts to begin the eighth inning, but then he lost command. He walked two batters, bringing Corey Seager to the plate. The low-and-inside sinker didn’t fool Seager, who lifted it for a three-run home run.

The Orioles entered this series one game back of the final American League wild-card place. The two losses to Texas now plant them three games back — a poor start to a meaningful road trip that continues with the playoff-chasing Minnesota Twins on Monday.

Baltimore’s anemic offense hardly gave it a chance in these first two games.

And the poor performances go beyond that. The Orioles have scored 11 runs over their past seven games. According to MLB.com, this is the first time they’ve scored 11 or fewer runs over a seven-game stretch of a season since May 28-June 6, 2018, when the club was on its way to 100 losses.

“We’re just not touching home plate enough,” Albernaz said. “That’s the biggest thing. Our at-bat quality has been really good. We had some good swings tonight, loud contact, just at guys. But also we’ve got to find the ability to get back to moving the runners over, playing a little bit of small ball and just moving the ball forward sometimes.”

When asked whether an overall change to the offensive philosophy was required, Albernaz said it wasn’t.

“It’s just, getting traffic on base and being able to recognize when we can take a bag or take the extra 90 feet, and not putting so much pressure on the guy at the plate to hit a double,” Albernaz said.

Bradish stood out, even if he didn’t induce as much swing and miss as deGrom. The right-hander completed six innings with no earned runs against him, and in the fifth, when he struck out Burger, he recorded his 500th career strikeout.

In doing so, Bradish became the fastest pitcher to reach the 500-strikeout mark in Orioles history, according to Elias Sports Bureau, needing 90 games to reach that benchmark. Erik Bedard was the previous fastest, in 97 games.

At first, Bradish didn’t know why his teammates had him toss the ball from his 500th strikeout toward the dugout. They told him later.

“Having TJ [Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery] and everything, it puts into perspective kind of the career I’ve had so far,” Bradish said, “and hopefully there’re many more to come.”

But, for the second straight night in the heart of Texas, the offense failed to reinforce a strong pitching performance. On Friday, right-hander Shane Baz pitched a gem of an eight-inning, two-run start, yet the Orioles lost 2-1.

And, in Saturday’s loss, Bradish kept the Rangers in check until they pulled away late.

Since August began, Baltimore has scored one run or fewer in five of its seven games.

Henderson said the Orioles must get runners on base earlier in innings, “and that’s probably a lot on me, being able to get on so we can actually run and it not be two outs. I’ve got to do a better job of that, I know, to give us as many opportunities as we can.”

Bringing the infield in with a runner on third and one out in the second inning seemed to be an admission of that. Had Henderson gone to first base for the second out of the inning, a runner wouldn’t have been on base for Burger’s infield single.

Even after deGrom departed, the Orioles lacked the timely knock in three straight innings.

In the sixth, Holliday doubled and Tyler O’Neill continued his improvement with his second walk of the game, adding to his 17-for-54 (.315) stretch since July. But Dylan Beavers grounded out to end that threat.

With two outs in the seventh, Colton Cowser doubled for the first time since May 30. It was the outfielder’s first extra-base hit since June 21, when he homered against the Dodgers. But Narváez flied out to center.

And in the eighth, after Pete Alonso doubled and right-hander Chase Silseth intentionally walked Holliday, O’Neill grounded into an inning-ending double play. Any breakthrough there might have been meaningless, given Seager’s homer. But there’s only so much a pitching staff can do when its offense posts zero after zero.

Notes

Catcher Samuel Basallo threw from 90 feet on Saturday for the second straight day, which is a positive step in his recovery from right shoulder inflammation. Albernaz said Basallo could begin swinging the bat early next week while the Orioles are in Minnesota, but a schedule hasn’t been determined.

Infielder Blaze Alexander is also making strides. On Friday, he played catch for the first time since breaking his hand in July. Alexander has been throwing, but Friday was the first time he caught with his glove on that healing left hand. Alexander said he could begin swinging in Minnesota and fielding in Tampa Bay late in the week.

This article has been updated.